For the past year I've been thinking about an idea of teaching 3rd-5th graders a progressively more sophisticated curriculum all based on the chocolate chip cookie. It would be books with activities, classic project-based learning with lots of side benefits. If you are unschooling your kids I'd love to hear what you think of this idea. The 3rd segment, for 5th grade, would be starting a mock (or real) cookie company where a group of kids collaborates just like in real life. Thanks for your thoughts!

]]>Wed, 21 May 2014 00:12:41 +0000http://sett.com/unschoolery/community/223576Unschoolers Learning to Readhttp://sett.com/unschoolery/community/474631
I'm interested in hearing stories about unschoolers learning to read. Did you let it all happen naturally? Did you provide lessons at times? At what age did it happen for them? My kids are eight years old (twins!), unschooled, and my wife and I are trying to strike the right balance in supporting them. Thanks!

]]>Sun, 17 Aug 2014 23:15:05 +0000http://sett.com/unschoolery/community/474631Unschooling: University edition.http://sett.com/unschoolery/community/1086050
The Unschooling movement is growing in an unprecedented way. Thanks both to people like Leo that help spread the word and provide a lot of helpful advice, and also by technology that every time offers more tools to empower parents and makes the job of unschooling their children just a little bit easier (with all the difficulties this still has). But why is it that when we talk about unschooling we think only of the children and the school? Why do we live adult education and universities aside?

I am not a parent so I cannot talk about my experience as tutoring my children. But I am a university graduate, dissatisfied by the current models of education also. Yes, in a way it is easier to just focus on the children as their minds are blank canvas, but what happens to adults? What can we do to help all this students that got their heads molded (and still are being molded), afraid of curiosity, of failure, of trying things on their own?

I know because I was there at some point. I finished school thinking I knew what I wanted to do in my life. It took me 7 unhappy years to realized how wrong I was. It is not just about passion, telling people to look for their passion is good, but simplistic. It is much more than that. We need not only to unschool our children, but also learn our adults to unlearn what they have been learning for so many years. We need to treat people like kids in this sense. Let them investigate and learn on their own. Real innovation was never a result of building within confined structures but rather the result of people tinkering on the side. With constraints but willing to overcome them, learn what they have to learn and hustle their way into success.

After this 7 years of unhappiness I am glad to say that I started reaching out of the same places I had been going, I started to reach out to new people and looking for new experiences. Started talking to the entrepreneurial people in my city in Argentina, started going to new meetups of makers and tinkerers. This led to me participating in a Boot Camp in Chile that aligned very much with these thoughts. They base their learnings in two very important books that allow this process to go through: "Essay on Self-Reliance" by Ralph Waldo Emerson and "The Road less Travelled" by M. Scott Peck.

Right now I am part of the organization that delivers the program that is called Exosphere. I truly believe that it is possible to encourage our adults to a different life of pursuing higher goals and be happier, setting an entrepreneurial mindset, not only in work, but in all aspects of life. I invite you to read more about us, our community and activities also in our blog: http://blog.exosphe.re/ and if you are interested in our mission please reach out!

…and Involved Parenting does not mean CONTROLLING

The idea of “unparenting” has come up every time I read a critical article about the unschooling movement. It’s difficult for many conventional thinkers to comprehend the engaged, hands on approach that is needed to create a loving and learning environment for a child. The unschooling paradigm does not start and stop with the intentional act of learning, it’s a complete concept defining the parent / child relationship. As an unschooling parent, I take my role as Miro’s learning facilitator seriously, and have never opted out of being engaged in his learning or life.

Unschooling is NOT unparenting.

“Unschooling is not unparenting; freedom to learn is not license to do whatever you want. People find different ways and means to get comfortable with John Holt’s ideas about children and learning and no one style of unschooling or parenting defines unschooling.” ~Pat Farenga

Before we began on our travels, I was working 60+ hours a week running my boutique branding agency, managing clients and accounts, the creative team and campaigns and taking care of administrative and marketing tasks. I took care of everything that needed to be taken care of and kept to a schedule which was the only way I could juggle all the responsibility in my life. I thought I was a good provider and I perceived my role as a parent as being successful.

My day started early, as I got Miro off to school at 7:30 in the morning. Miro was one of lucky kids who was accepted to a state funded afterschool program, where he was able to work on his homework or read until I picked him up at 5:30 each day. (That was a long day for anyone, especially for a child under 10).

At that point, I was not involved in his education nor did I believe it was my role to interfere in the state provided methods, as I just believed, they did what was best for the children of California. Sadly, I was I truly uninvolved in his life. We were tasked, scheduled, productive and disconnected. For the first 10 years of Miro’s life, I was an uninvolved parent. I would have never admitted it then because I was achieving a respectable level of success and we were highly functioning within the system and that was what we were supposed to do. But an involved parent in Miro’s life? I know now, that was a superficial illusion.

But now I am a highly involved parent.

But there is a huge difference between highly involved and controlling. In fact, I’d say my involvement is completely and totally uncontroling How could those two concepts work?

Unschooling is not unparenting, in fact it is highly involved parenting. But it si parenting without having to control the situation, parenting through involvement and presence, something I talk about as being the key to making all of this work. But by not being controlling, I am not being neglectful.

Get it?

Unschooling, is not unparenting, it an attached and highly involved form of parenting. Some would characterize it as a state of permissive parenting, but others might object to the use of that word. At the root of the relationship though is a sense of trust. The underlying belief through the unschooling approach is that when a parent is highly involved in supporting their child’s learning processes, control is not necessary.

Because I allow my son to make his own choices about his focus of study, his time, his hygiene, his life, I am not unparenting him. I am actually empowering his to make choices, and through not controlling his time or choices, life learning happens. Accountability. He’s accountable for his choices now, and that is a lesson that he will carry through the rest of his life.

]]>Tue, 27 Aug 2013 21:35:27 +0000http://sett.com/unschoolery/community/62523Back to school after 2 years of unschooling?http://sett.com/unschoolery/community/470749
Need some help and guidance - My husband and I have been unschooling our two daughters (ages 10 and 12) for the past 2 years in the state of Virginia. Just last week my 10 year old asked if she could try the school in the area we just moved to a year ago. In order to register her for school I have to show proof that she's ready to enter the 5th grade (and 7th grade for my other daughter if she ends up wanting to try it too). How do I do this if I haven't tested them annually like Virginia homeschoolers are supposed to do? I'm scared and feeling very guilty for not at least having them tested and complying with homeschool regulations. I have very mixed feelings about them going back to school but ultimately I want them to own their education, choose the methods that they feel satisfy their needs and I will fill in wherever necessary.

]]>Tue, 12 Aug 2014 15:19:38 +0000http://sett.com/unschoolery/community/470749How to tell the school your son isn't going anymore?http://sett.com/unschoolery/community/473876
If I decide to unschool my son, how do I tell the school he isn't going anymore? How do I know the state won't consider me a bad parent and put my son in a foster home?